I’ve heard some people describe getting sliced by a sharp blade as being almost as if they didn’t feel anything at first. That wasn’t how it was with me. I felt the tip of the hooked claw catch in my skin, and then dig in. There was a tearing, pulling sensation; it was quick, but it was there, long enough for me to think, of all things, Wait…
The pain was terrible. Worse, though, was instantly knowing I was a dead man. I could feel wet and warmth across my neck and actually saw it spray away from me in a red mist.
It was the carotid artery. A million thoughts shot through my head in that instant. What do I do, I’m a dead man, I can’t die not like this, stop the bleeding somehow, I can’t die yet, all came at light speed, the thoughts tripping over themselves in a rush to be expressed before the end.
After a person’s carotid artery is severed, the supply of blood reaching the brain drops dramatically. You pass out quickly, often within seconds, and then die within about two minutes. I felt myself getting fuzzy almost instantly; shock, most likely. Everything became remote and muffled and somehow brighter and then I felt my legs going out from underneath me.
Then, nothing. Just nothing. Everybody wants to know if there was a bright light or out of body experience and I always have to disappoint them.
I opened my eyes and I was lying in what I thought was a hospital bed. Just a nick, I thought. My artery was just nicked and I passed out, they got to me in time.
Not exactly.
Being told I’d come back from the dead felt very much as if they’d told me that I had an untreatable, fatal disease. Ironic, I suppose. And I’ve tried to intellectualize it, to look at it as an experiment, to distance myself from the awful reality of it, but I can’t stand to look in the mirror and see those swirls of pinkish skin on my neck.
I feel trapped in my own skin, like it doesn’t fit right. Every breath feels strange, like there is a mild irritant in the air that I can’t identify. And then there’s the thoughts.
Not the awareness that I’m the walking dead; although there is that too. These thoughts are… unhinged, is the best word I can think of. Disjointed is also a pretty accurate description. It’s like a mild hallucinogen kicks in at random times and makes me see the world a little off-kilter.
I remember looking into a mirror and knowing… not thinking, knowing… that I could reach right into it and touch my own face on the other side… and I would feel it here, on this side of the mirror. I’d stretched my hand halfway there before I stopped myself.
That’s what terrifies me the most. Take my life, destroy my body, but don’t let my mind turn against me. Don’t take away my soul, if there is such a thing.
The upside is, every Trick I knew before works twice as powerfully and ten times more easily than… well, before. And I pick up new ones at a dizzying rate; I’ve blown through most of the Healing array and I’ve even got a decent Defense array going at this point as well. You’d think I’d be thrilled, but mixed with the satisfaction of learning a new skillset is the creeping knowledge of why it’s so easy, and a fear of what the cost will be.
Please… not my mind. Not my soul. But it’s coming. I can feel it.
And then the call came in tonight, and I almost didn’t answer. But in the end, loyalty to Cass and Dread and the rest of the squad won out. I can hold it together a little longer. I can. Long enough to maybe make a difference. And if somebody has to die, let it be me.
Before those… other… thoughts become too strong to fight.
***
Across the ice, Stephen checked the distance between himself and Tara and decided he'd never be able to make it on time. He grabbed Shifty by the arm, bringing them both to a halt, and after a moment's deliberation, sat down on the ice with his back toward Tara and his legs straight out.
"What the hell are you doing?" Shifty asked. "We have to..."
"Hit me with a pressor wave," Stephen said, drawing the machete-like Kukri knife from his belt sheath.
"That could break your ribs, Stephen..."
"No, it won't," Stephen said, clamping the knife in his teeth and putting both hands in front of him in a Stop gesture. A two-foot wide circle of air shimmered in front of him.
"Hey, when did you learn how to make a shield..." Shifty began, but after an urgent look from Stephen, shrugged and put his own hands out like he was pushing a cart. "Here it comes!"
An invisible pulse of force slammed into Stephen's magical shield, hurling him backwards across the ice. He grimaced under the impact, but Shifty’s pressor wave did the trick; he slid the distance to Tara in a manner of seconds, reaching her just as Cass did.
"Get it off!" Tara screamed, losing her grip on the ice. She started to slide under, but Cass darted forward and grabbed a hold of her a moment before she disappeared. Whatever was under the ice was strong; it tugged on Tara with teeth and claws, and Cass was pulled to the very edge of the hole in the ice. She dug her heels in, but it was no use; the ice cracked under her weight and she fell in, losing her grip on Tara.
Stephen leapt in after her, grabbing on to Tara and taking the knife out of his teeth. The monster pulled back, and Tara screamed as the creature's teeth dug deeper into her thigh from the tug-of-war.
"Cass, hold her!" Stephen said, raising his Kukri.
"It's fucking killing me!" Tara screamed, as Cass pulled Tara back with everything she had.
"Die, you fucker!" Stephen shouted, chopping at the water in front of Tara. "Fucking die! Die!"
He cursed again and dug for Tara's sidearm, unable to slash with any effect through the water. Cass shouted and handed him her submachinegun, using both hands to hold on to Tara once she did.
There was a fleeting moment of doubt in Cass's mind, in which she could see Stephen turn, grinning in delight, and shoot Tara and herself with glee, but it was drowned out by the rattle of her weapon, blazing into the water rather than into her. Whatever was holding Tara released her abruptly, and Cass almost fell over backward before regaining her balance.
"Up and out of the water!" Stephen said, setting Cass's gun on the ice and forming a step with his hands.
"She's bleeding, bad."
"Up and out of the water, then we'll take care of it."
Cass stepped up into Stephen's interlocked hands and pushed off onto the ice. She thought for a second it might buckle, but once she realized it would hold, she waved Stephen on.
"Pull her on first," Stephen said, picking Tara up like a groom carrying his bride across the threshold. She was dazed, barely conscious, but he was able to slide her on to the ice with Cass's help. Her mangled leg trailed streaks of blood behind her.
"Hurry, Stephen, before any more come... Shifty, give me a hand here."
More gunfire and magefire crackled on the far side of the room. Shifty reached the hole and held out a hand for Stephen, careful not to get too close to the edge.
"Go help them," Stephen said, waving him off. "I'll get out on my own."
"Yeah, whatever, tough guy," Cass said. "Take our hands, and slide onto the ice, now."
Stephen smiled and waved her back. "Move out of the way."
He stared at the ice for a moment, looking like a high-diver preparing for a difficult jump. Cass realized he was about to pull some sort of a Trick and slid back to give him some room.
Stephen blew out a breath and jumped. His legs kicked up behind him, as if a gymnastic spotter had picked them up for him, and he slid forward onto the ice as if thrown.
Cass shot a look at Shifty. "What..."
Shifty shrugged. "He put up a little shield a minute ago, too."
She ignored Stephen's newfound capabilities for now, pointing down toward Tara. "All right, superstar, see what you can do for her. Come on, Shifty, we're moving toward the strut. Dread! Report!"
Another loud blast from his F-Shok, and Dread shouted back, "They're breaking up through the ice, out away from the ropes about twenty feet, where it's thinner!"
Cass paused a second to take it all in
; a half-dozen holes in the ice on either side of the rope, with several spider-like bodies each the size of a Rottweiler, splayed on the surface, leaking green blood. Dread, Mike, and Peter were in a semi-circle next to the far door, spent shell casings and empty magazines littering the ice at their feet.
"Peter!" she ordered. "Blast a goddamn hole through the top of that door and get off the ice and into the stairwell behind it. Is that rope tied off?"
"Yeah!" Dread yelled back. "We... shit! Look out!"
Cass spun, weapon shouldered. Something began smashing through the ice underneath Stephen and Tara, something larger than the creatures Dread and the others had shot. Stephen grabbed a hold of Tara by the vest and dragged her away, Shifty and Cass lending a hand once he was clear of the splintering ice.
"Go! Go go go!" Stephen said. "It's going to get through!"
A monstrous limb crashed up through the ice, a dozen yards behind them. It was long, a foot thick, and shaft-like, jointed twice before ending in a saw-toothed claw. Another identical limb broke through, and another, and together, they broke out a ten-foot section of the ice.
Cass waved the others off as she turned to face the nightmare. "Pull yourselves along like Peter did! Now!"
"What about Tara?" Shifty asked.
"I'll worry about her! Go!"
They were off, sliding hand-over-hand along the ice, and Cass trained her weapon on the fresh hole in the ice as she pulled Tara toward the far side of the room with her free hand. A heavy, lumpy mass began to emerge from the water, along with another half-dozen of the saw-toothed limbs. Stalk-like appendages covered the fleshy body, some ending in eyes, some ending in organs Cass couldn't guess at.
She'd hoped the ice wouldn't hold under such a heavy creature, but another few limbs emerged with the rest of the bloated body, and distributed the weight across enough surface area to prevent its breaking through. A beak-like mouth shivered and snapped underneath the body, and all of the creature's eyes were on Cass.
Cass set her jaw and fired a burst one-handed into the mass of the creature. The slugs smacked into the black flesh, tearing pieces of it away, and the creature shuddered and backed up a few steps; but before Cass's eyes, the bloated body began to grow back into place, and the creature trudged toward her again, slowly, tentatively, testing its limbs on the strange, slick surface.
Cass tried to fire again, but her weapon clicked on empty. She took a second to reload, and began dragging Tara toward the support strut with a desperate strength.
"Peter! That door had better be open!" she shouted.
More crashing from beneath the ice, about ten feet away on either side of her. Some of the smaller creatures began breaking their way through, as the large one increased its speed, bearing down on her like a locomotive.
The gigantic monster was only ten feet away when she cut loose on it again, emptying almost an entire magazine into it. Tissue tore away, eyestalks disintegrated, green blood splattered on the ice in sprays under her barrage, but Cass knew it would only be a temporary reprieve. She saved the last two bursts for the smaller spiders coming out of the water on either side of her, then pulled Tara the last few feet to the support strut.
She drew her knife and cut the rope leading to the doorway with Dread and the others, tying the free end with nervous fingers around Tara's harness. Another second to reload, and she waved to Dread.
"Dread! Pull her in!"
"Hurry, Cass! It's right on you!"
Tara's inert form slid away, pulled across the ice by Dread's titanic arms, and Cass trotted after her as fast as she could without slipping. The huge monstrosity was faster, though, gaining ground quickly as it regrew, using its multiple legs to churn forward. Two saw-toothed limbs lifted off the ice and swept her legs out from under her before she could turn and fire. She fell on her back with a thud, the wind knocked half out of her, but she managed to trigger off a long burst point-blank into the creature before it could get on top of her.
She tried to gain her feet, but the ice was too slippery, and she fell on her face. Cass almost laughed in bitter irony; there were her six friends at the door, armed to the teeth and desperate to help her, and none of them could risk a shot with the giant creature so close.
Cass rolled onto her back. She pushed along the ice with her heels, slowly drawing away from the regenerating creature. More small spiders were on the ice now. Gunfire and magefire from the team tore apart a few. The rest would have to wait their turn; the big one would easily catch her before them. It pushed itself up off the ice with its dozen legs again, beaked mouth jibbering as its eyestalks swiveled toward her.
Cass fired the last of her magazine into the creature. The monster barely slowed this time. She dug her heels into the ice faster, the scrabbling tempo of her feet matching the thumping beat of her heart. She let the submachinegun fall into her lap on its sling, thought about her pistol, and pulled an incendiary grenade off her vest instead.
Fuck it, she thought. If I'm gonna go, you're going with me.
Something slapped the back of her head, as the spider pulled close enough to kick, and Cass nearly dropped the grenade in surprise. It wasn't another spider, though… it was the rope.
"Cass, grab on!" Dread shouted, and Cass didn't wait to be told twice. Wrapping her hand around the rope, she kicked away a probing claw as the rope whipped tight and she slid toward safety.
With a curse, she slid the grenade back along the ice toward the monster. The giant spider charged after her, beak chomping greedily, but Cass sped away along the ice in a frantic heartbeat.
She reached the door; the half of it above the ice had been blasted in with magefire. Her team was behind it and in the stairwell leading downstairs. Dread pulled her through the hole and down below the level of the ice as she shouted "Fire in the hole!"
The entire team ducked behind the bottom half of the door, the dam that somehow held all of that water in place, as Cass's grenade blew. A brief spout of fire bloomed over their heads, gone as soon as it was there.
They rose from behind the half-ruined door, looking across the surface of the ice. The giant spider was broken apart, blown into a dozen flaming fragments that twitched and tried to regenerate, but could not. The burn wounds were cauterized, beyond repair, and all the creature's flesh could do was twitch out the last of its life.
The half-dozen smaller spiders came on, ignoring the burning wreckage of the giant. They scrambled across the ice, straight for the door.
"Kill them all," Cass said.
Machineguns rattled, magefire flew, and soon nothing was left moving on the ice.
"Think that's all of them?" Dread asked, smoke still rising from his weapon.
Cass shrugged. "Shifty, you and Peter boobytrap this entrance so nothing can come down after us," she said, indicating the blasted top half of the doorway.
"Right."
They carried Tara down to the landing, leaving a trail of blood along the way. Stephen cut her pants leg away with a pair of scissors. There were fifteen holes in her leg, spread out along a semi-circle. The flesh around each wound was blue-black, with dark streaks stretching toward her heart.
"Poison," Cass said, and looked at Stephen. "Can you help her?"
"I think so," Stephen said, and placed his palms an inch above the bleeding wound.
His eyes fluttered and he winced briefly, and black slime began to ooze out of Tara's leg along with the blood. The streaks receded back towards the wound and finally disappeared altogether. By the time Stephan was done, Tara's wound was still red, raw, and bleeding… but no longer poisoned.
Cass
Looks like Stephen picked up a few new Tricks while he was dead.
Two weeks ago, seeing him pull a new Trick would've been a relief… one more weapon in our arsenal. But now, this week, it only served as a reminder of how he'd been Vived.
A mage's powers always increase once they've been Vived. The problem was, God only knew what other changes had occurred in Stephen's gray m
atter when he came back.
Still, he'd taken a serious risk jumping into the water after Tara and I, so after he healed up the rest of Tara's wound, I told Dread to give his sidearm back to him. His submachinegun I gave to Tara, once she'd taken a few experimental steps on her now-flawless leg and announced she was as good as new.
Almost as good as new. Almost flawless. When a Healer seals up a wound like that, the new skin over the area is slightly pinker than the undamaged flesh. It isn't quite a scar, and it fades to normal within a week or two, but it's a tell-tale sign of a Healing Trick, and a temporary reminder of the misery you or somebody else has sustained. In Tara's case, there were fifteen little pinkish spots visible on the stretch of her thigh visible through her torn pant leg.
But, she said she could walk just fine, which was good, because sometimes even Healed limbs are disabled for a little while, as if the body remembers the recent trauma and refuses to believe that it has resolved so quickly. Tara was soaking wet and shivering a little, more from her nerves than from the cold, so I told her to stick next to Stephen and I, in the center of the group.
"Just like in the stairwell from the roof," I ordered. "Dread out front, with Shifty and Peter flanking, Mike will pull up the rear."
Down we went; thankfully, this stairwell's lighting was still working, so I didn't have to worry about the team getting spooked. Crawling around in the threat-filled dark with nothing but the flashlight mounted under your weapon to keep you company can get old pretty quick, I'm here to tell you.
The plan was to bypass the twenty-third floor and continue to the twenty-second, where Stephen said he could sense some magical activity. Of course, that plan went to shit almost immediately.
“Hold up,” Dread said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s… it’s blocked. The stairwell is blocked.”
“Blocked with what?” I asked, but by then I’d angled around Dread’s massive back to get a look for myself. “Okay, that’s going to be a problem.”
Mage Hunters Box Set Page 9